


Claimed

by frogs_of_war



Series: Along the Silk Road [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Asia, Central Asia, Coming of Age, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-20
Updated: 2013-11-20
Packaged: 2018-01-02 03:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1051823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogs_of_war/pseuds/frogs_of_war
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Priti saves his family in a way that sends them fleeing for safety. Only he doesn't find Tanvir Sahib as scary as they do.</p>
<p>The threat was harsh but Tanvir's eyes didn't harden. He grinned at Priti. "No one is allowed to kiss you either. These lips are mine."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Claimed

Priti's mother pulled him behind her as men filled the area around their gher. His pride told him to stand in front of her, but he was too much of a coward to listen. These men were big and grim and Manraj was among them. Manraj was not much older than Priti's oldest sister, but he'd made a name for himself as a ruffian, a sore winner, and a showoff even before his father died and left him his herds. Manraj's father had never enforced his power, but Manraj was now the richest man in the area and his word was law.

Priti's father walked down from the hill as if he had all the time in the world. He stepped onto the rock Priti used to climb atop his horse. "What brings you here today, Manraj?"

"I have come for what is owed me."

"What would that be?"

"Anything I want." Manraj and his men laughed. He turned to the gher. "Where are you pretty daughters, Harmeet? I will take them and your herds. I might even let the girls return once we are through with them."

The men laughed again.

Mother shook and balled her hands into fists in the folds of her skirts. Priti huddled behind her. Those men were large and rough. Father couldn't do anything to save them if the men hurt Priti and his mother. Father had only his words and honor and Manraj had already proved that he was too stupid to understand either.

Manraj advanced on Mother. Priti slipped inside the gher. A man yelled. Mother shouted and cursed. The curtain was dragged aside and men rushed in. They overturned tables and dressers and dumped out every chest, even those too small to hide a person, and left dirty prints on the fine rugs. A strong hand clamped over Priti's arm and dragged him outside. He struggled and kicked and bit Manraj's arm, but Manraj didn't let him go.

"I could not find you daughters, but I found young Nayanprit. A joy to look upon, that he is." Manraj leered at Priti. "I will take him instead. You will rue the day you crossed my path."

Mother lunged at Manraj, but the men kept her away. Father turned his back. Everyone knew that once a boy tasted a man, he would never go back, never be a father or give his father an heir. But the same was not said about a man who tasted a boy.

Manraj passed Priti to another man and mounted his horse. "Get the herds."

Priti's sisters were with the herds. He couldn't let Manraj and his men near them.

Mother held her arms out to Priti as she struggled against her captors. Priti had to help her. He had to save them all from ruin. Without the herds his sister could never be married. Without the herds they would all starve to death. Only he could save them. He fought as the man tried to pass him to Manraj. "You can't."

Manraj laughed. "I can't what?"

"You can't make me yours because I'm already Tanvir Sahib's."

The man released Priti as if he were a hot coal and everyone stepped back including Father. Mother, now free of her captors, pressed her lips together as tears poured down her cheeks.

Manraj looked from Father to Mother then back at Priti. "You are lying."

Priti shook his head.

Manraj laughed, harsh and loud. "He will kill you, you know that, for evoking his name. Your fields will burn and no sheep or goat will be left alive."

Priti held his head high. "I do not lie."

And Tanvir Sahib was a gentle man.

"If he tells the truth," said the man who had held Priti, "I am as good as dead. As are you, Manraj."

"He lies." Manraj turned his horse. "We will be back to take whatever Tanvir Sahib leaves alive."

Then he and his men rode away.

Mother pulled Priti against her chest. "Never scare me like that again."

Father sighed and stepped down from the rock. "Komal, pack. I will send the girls to you. Tell them nothing."

Mother nodded. "Will we take them with us?"

"No." Father patted her arm. "I will separate their dowries from the herds. With fewer animals we will go faster. And they will be safe here with their new families."

"Nayanprit." Father watched Mother go inside and then he turned and slapped Priti's face so hard Priti fell to the ground and his ears rang. "Never! Never mention Tanvir Sahib's name again! Ever! Under any circumstance!"

Priti pressed his hand against his throbbing cheek and stared up at his father. His father had hit him. His father had never raised a hand to Priti or his mother or his sisters before even when Priti had fallen asleep and his herds wandered off and weren't found for days, or the time Mother didn't cook enough food and Father's guests couldn't eat their fill, or even the night Priti's sisters tussled and knocked over a lamp inside the gher and the fire had destroyed their home and everything in it.

His kind, gentle father, who carried little lambs out to the pastures and brought food to neighbors without his good fortune had hit Priti after Priti had saved everyone.

Father looked at the gher then across the fields. "I hope going to your mother's family will be far enough to keep us safe, but I know it won't. If you wake up one night to smoke and death, know that you are the one responsible."

Priti stayed on the ground until Father walked away.

Mother hurried to him and helped him inside the gher. She held a cold cloth to his cheek. "My baby, forgive him. He is scared."

Priti blinked back tears. "I was scared too."

"I know, baby, I know." She tucked Priti into his bed as if he were a small child. "So was I. You were so brave." She kissed his head. "If we hurry, maybe the Sahib won't find us. Sleep, you can help me later."

Priti wasn't tired, but he was sore and his chest ached. He laid his arm over his eyes, but he couldn't rest. His mind turned over and over his father's reactions to what had happened outside. When good fortune fell upon a man, he shouldn't complain about what form the fortune took. Father had said that, more than once. Priti saved them all. Father shouldn't complain about how he did it.

His sisters came home. Mother couldn't tell them who their husbands would be and she didn't explain why they were getting married so suddenly or why Priti was in bed. He didn't like the scrutiny or being unable to answer their questions, so he got up and set to work outside. Plus, this way his sisters wouldn't see his cheek and ask even more questions.

Father returned after sunset. Four men in the village had agreed to Father's bride price. The new couples would start with a hundred sheep and as many goats, given equally by each family. Priti's sister who was just two years older than him would have fifty more of each because she was so beautiful, but Priti couldn't be happy for her. Father wouldn't look at him.

The next day his sisters' husbands came for them. The festivities lasted all day and much of the night and Father toasted Priti when he toasted Priti's sisters. Priti had been forgiven. The next morning Priti and his parents packed up and left. They set off across Father's land. As they were a nomadic family, who moved their house every few months, the villagers wouldn't know they were gone for a while. His sisters wouldn't know where they had gone.

They traveled all day and as the sun set, Priti and his father set up portable pens for the herds that were left. He ate his food under the stars. Two years ago in this very valley, he'd heard the sound of horses' hooves and he left his flock to investigate. A group of twenty men made camp by the stream and cooked food and ate. A few swam in the tepid water.

One of the men awoke something deep inside Priti. He crept closer. Water glistened off the man's shoulders and ran through the hair on his chest and dripped from the dark curls on his head and the point of his short beard. His face, neck, and hands were a darker brown than his waist and shoulders, like any man who spent time in the sun. But he didn't look like just any man.

His hair was as dark as anyone's, at least wet, but Priti would have sworn the man's eyes were green. Priti had only ever heard of green eyes. His sisters told stories they'd heard from his grandmother and aunts that some men traveled far to take wives with blue eyes, but Priti never liked those stories. Blue eyes, like the djinn and wizards, just couldn't exist.

But green eyes, green eyes were possible. And this man might have them.

Priti move behind the last shrub. He had to get closer. He had to see.

The sound of many small feet came up behind him and a goat maa-ed. The herd had found him. He turned and sat. The goats showed their normal enthusiasm by jumping on him. The sheep couldn't be bothered. Priti would rather not have been either.

A man in dark red, not his man, looked down at Priti. "What do we have here?"

Priti lowered his gaze. "I am shepherding my father's herds."

"Is this his land?"

"Bring him here."

Priti stood up and turned around. That was his man's voice. Wasn't it?

He pushed the goats and sheep aside and stepped around the shrub. His man stood in the stream, the water low on his hips. Priti rubbed the heel of his hand down his front. His body ached in a way it never had before. His man's eyes were green with a gold ring around the color. Priti had never seen anything half so breathtaking. They were like beautiful, polished stones set in jewelry.

His man grinned. "What is your name, pretty boy?"

Priti swallowed hard. "Nayanprit, sahib."

"A very appropriate name." His man stepped out of the water. He was magnificent in every way.

Priti couldn't breathe. His lungs were too hot to work, like the hottest of summer days, but his legs were antsy and his hands clasp and unclasp and he knew his manhood was making a tent of his trousers, but he couldn't pull his eyes of the beautiful, huge one in front of him.

A towel moved between them. Priti frowned and pulled his eyes up to his man's face. His man was grinning. "Do you like what you see?"

Priti nodded.

His man laughed a nice friendly laugh. "So refreshingly honest."

"Do you know who this is?" asked the man in dark red. He'd given Priti's man the towel. Priti was pretty sure he didn't like that guy.

Priti dragged his eyes down his man's body and back up. The towel was conveniently short enough to show off his man's beautifully muscled legs, but not short enough to expose the wondrous hard flesh Priti wanted to touch. "He is the most handsome man in the whole world. Many people must have been born ugly to make up for your beauty."

His man reached forward and tugged on Priti's forelock. "The same could be said of you, my pretty little Priti."

Priti blushed. His man laughed again and the men around him joined in. Priti smiled. He felt comfortable here with these men. But then the man in dark red handed Priti's man green and gold clothing and his man put on the trousers. But at least he had to take off his towel to do that.

His man touched Priti's cheek. "Would you rather I stay bare?"

Priti nodded. As long as he was naked, he couldn't leave. And he was so pretty. Priti looked down at his man's perfect feet. Priti dragged his eyes back up. "All of you is so beautiful that you will still be handsome with all your clothes on."

But Priti hoped he didn't dress too quickly.

His man brushed his strong fingers against Priti's lips. "Are you anyone's lover?"

Priti shook his head and stepped closer. He wanted those big hands against his skin and to touch the handsome man in return. He set his hand against his man's hard belly. The hair was smooth beneath his palm.

His man wrapped his hand around Priti's wrist and raised Priti's palm to his lips. "First, my Priti, you must tell me your age."

Priti stared at the gold embroidery on the green cloth of his man's trouser legs. The cloth was beautiful and matched his beautiful green eyes. Priti looked up again. His man kissed his palm. "No matter what age you state, you are mine."

His man sucked Priti's first two fingers into his mouth. Priti could hardly hold still, but he didn't want to pull away. He didn't want his man to ever stop. The annoying guy in dark red returned. "Sahib, we must go soon if we are to reach the capital by dawn."

Priti's man turned to the guy in dark red. "Some things cannot be rushed."

"Yes, Sahib." He stepped away. The men around them rose to their feet. They would all leave soon. Priti wanted his man beside him forever.

"Tell me, my sweet."

"I," Priti wet his lips. The number was so dreadfully low. "Almost thirteen."

His man sighed. "I feared as much. I cannot take you with me today. I will return in… three years. You will be old enough then."

Three years was such a long time. His man touched his hair. "Do not be sad. You are mine. Who is your father?"

"Harmeet, sahib. This is his land."

Priti's man nodded and pulled his tunic over his head. "And where is your mother from?"

Priti answered all his man's questions about his parents and grandparents and uncles and even his aunts' husbands. The easy questions were made harder as Priti's man covered up all his beautiful skin. Watching it covered was physically painful.

When Priti pulled his eyes away, the other men had packed their camp and were on their horses. Priti's man was going to leave without him. The guy in dark red held the reins of two horses. Priti wasn't ready for his man to leave. He took his man's hand. "Please, sahib, don't leave without me."

His man touched his hair. "I will be back."

"But, sahib, I don't even know your name."

His man froze for a second and Priti felt eyes upon him. The man in dark red stepped forward. "You really don't know who he is?"

"He is a man touched by a god or even a god himself, no man is so handsome without blessings. But," he looked up at his man, "I still don't know which blessed man."

Priti's man got down on one knee and gently took Priti's chin in his hand. "My pretty little love, you did not give me such compliments to win my favor?"

Priti shook his head. "I only told the truth."

His man sucked in a breath. "I should take you with me and have you tonight. But we are in a hurry and I do not want to rush with you. I will return when you are older. Three years is not so long. And until then tell anyone who wishes to bed you – man or women, young or old, forced or with your consent — that I, Tanvir, will kill them if they do and their blood will fertilize the land."

The threat was harsh but Tanvir's eyes didn't harden. He grinned at Priti. "No one is allowed to kiss you either. These lips are mine."

And he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Priti's. Priti opened his mouth. Tanvir leaned away. "You are too tempting by half."

Tanvir got to his feet.

"Tanvir Sahib." The man in dark red passed the reins to Tanvir.

He was leaving and Priti could do nothing to stop him. Tanvir touched Priti's cheek again. "I will return."

Priti put his hand over Tanvir's. "I believe in you."

Tanvir mounted his horse. "I will make a place for you. But for now I must go."

He rode away. Priti watched until Tanvir and his men were smaller than dust specks in the distance. He stayed in the valley until the sheep and goats protested.

Weeks later, his father made him sit with the men when guests came to visit and he heard Tanvir Sahib's name. Tanvir Sahib was rich and therefore powerful and he dealt his own version of justice. Priti's father didn't approve.

After that every time men gathered, Priti listened closely. Tanvir Sahib was always a topic of conversation. As he grew in strength and influence, men spoke his name with greater reverence. Priti listened intently to every story whether it was about Tanvir Sahib recovering jewels for a widow or massacring the men who stole them.

Men talked of his strong stature and loyal men, but many people called his green eyes eerie and not beautiful as they really were. But everyone agreed that he always kept his word. He would keep his word to Priti and return.

The three years were almost up. The rumor of a boy belonging to him would surely reach him and he would come for Priti.

The moon slid across the sky. Priti got up and went back to the campsite where Father and Mother greeted him warmly from their bedroll. Priti crawled into his own bed. He would happily stay with his parents for the meantime, but he wasn't going to hide from the man he dreamed of every night.

 


	2. Priti Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tanvir has been waiting to collect Priti. He just thought it would be easier.
> 
> He deserved the finery, but why couldn't Tanvir's men have done it on Tanvir's time? He forced down his impatience. Over these weeks, Joban had grown friendly and Priti's father might no longer hate him. An alliance with this powerful family in the north was good for his holdings and his future and a totally unexpected boon, for he would have made Priti his own even if the boy's family were beggars.
> 
> ———

"Oh great Tanvir Sahib, lord of earth and sky." Gurman fell to his knees and then lowered his face to the dirt. "If my master so wills, this one will grace my lord's ears with news from the west that has just come into this one's keeping."

Tanvir would have preferred an uninterrupted meal, but such was not the life of a warlord. He scooped up meat and vegetables into the small flatbread. "Speak."

"My lord, the wonderful Tanvir Sahib, master of heaven and sea, this one holds within his breast news that greatly concerns my great master." Gurman glanced up. Tanvir waved his hand for him to continue. Gurman took forever to get to the point and flattered with bald faced lies as if Tanvir was a Raja in need of sycophants.

"My great master, lord of sand and air, this one's ears have heard that a man to the west has evoked my lord's name."

Young Priti. Tanvir could almost taste him.

Gurman glanced from Tanvir's balled up fist to his face. "This news had not yet graced my lord's ears?"

Tanvir nodded to Zemar to toss Gurman some coins. Gurman might be annoying, but he was useful. Tanvir stood up. His men rose as well.

Minutes later they had broken their camp and were riding west. His stomach rumbled for lack of food, but before they stopped to rest and sup, he hoped be some hours closer to his long deferred desire.

—

Tanvir stopped with his men in the town nearest to where he'd met young Priti. The family was long gone, by the looks of their grazing pastures, but the town's people needed to see him and know he followed through when anyone called for him by name. Zemar set up camp in the town square and before the meat began to sizzle over the fire, townsfolk appeared with news. The family had been gone some months, without their daughters. Tanvir let out the word that he didn't care about the girls. They were safe with their new families.

Much of the wailing stopped, but not all.

He also discovered why young Priti had spoken his name. Tanvir would be back for justice, but Nayanprit came first.

—

Tanvir chose to seek out Priti's mother's family in the north, because that was where he would have gone to hide. Joban was a man of great wealth and power. His herds were vast. Not as vast so Tanvir's own, but Tanvir couldn't just ride in and take Priti as he would have done if Priti had been with only his parents.

He sent Dilraj and Arjan, his two dearest friends, with a chest of gold and a request to parley. They returned empty handed, which he'd expected. The next day, he sent them again with a bag of jewels. They returned again. The third day Tanvir went himself with lengths of silks in many bright shades.

Joban frown at him as they shared meat and salt. "You cannot buy my grandson."

Tanvir dipped his head. "In that we are agreed."

"Then why the gold and jewels?"

"Let me speak to him. If he wishes to come with me, I will take him. If he does not, I will leave without him."

Joban lifted an eyebrow. "And never return?"

Tanvir forced himself to relax. "That remands to be seen."

—

Tanvir followed Joban over the hill and into Joban's home, which despite the portable buildings, was very much like a small city. This was how Tanvir wanted to live.

People bowed to Tanvir as he rode in, but one person met his gaze despite the desperate woman trying to pull the boy into a bow. Priti.

People moved aside as Tanvir hurried up the hill to him. Priti smiled. "I knew you would come for me."

Tanvir slid off his horse and time stopped. Priti had grown even finer over the last few years. Poets would not be able to do him justice. And he looked at Tanvir with the same fearless gaze he'd used before he'd known Tanvir's name. Fearless and attracted and beautiful.

Tanvir opened his satchel where he'd saved the best of his gifts for Priti. He fastened the heavy gold and onyx tiger necklace around Priti's neck and then covered his wrists with bangles. The bright green length of silk, Tanvir wrapped around him. "Priti."

Joban looked his grandson over. "You still wish to buy him."

Priti grinned. "He does not need to buy me, for I am already his."

He stepped against Tanvir, the spot he truly belonged.

Tanvir held him close. "I will take you with me and cover you in gold and silks."

"Wait." Joban said. "I will need some weeks to match your bride price."

Priti was so close and Tanvir had waited so long. "I will trust you for it."

"No." Joban put his hand to his chest. "I will pay you in full, but I must sell a few of my herds. I will keep Priti until then."

"I will take the herds." Traveling with animals was slow work, but worth the effort to have Priti sooner.

Joban shook his head. "Gold for gold, ewe for ewe, kid for kid."

Tanvir buried his face in Priti's shoulder. Who would have dreamed that his generosity would be his downfall?

"Besides," Priti's mother put her hands on her hips. "He will need wedding clothes. He has nothing fine enough to match you."

Tanvir straightened his shoulders. "He should not match me, but surpass me. I will send for my tailor and he can help make Priti a dozen outfits that will not shame you."

Priti's mother smiled. Joban clapped Tanvir on the back. "And until then you will stay with us."

Tanvir had waited years. A few more weeks wouldn't kill him.

—

During the day, Tanvir kept company with Joban and Priti's father and sometimes even with Priti. The boy, now a young man, was graceful and agile and witty and smart and so very earnest. Every moment they were together made parting at night more difficult.

One night, two weeks into Tanvir's torture, someone came to Tanvir's tent as he readied for bed. Zemar raised his eyebrows and opened the flap. In stepped Priti, wearing only gauze, but the dim light and multiple layers of fabric concealed more than they exposed. Zemar slipped out, leaving Tanvir alone with his heart's desire.

Priti floated toward Tanvir. "A star dropped from the sky. Do you suppose heaven misses you?"

Tanvir did not trust himself to touch the tantalizing flesh before him. If he lost himself, would Joban still let him leave with Priti?

Priti knelt before Tanvir's chair and lifted Tanvir's foot. "Flowers hide their heads as you walk by, ashamed that they will never have your beauty."

Priti slipped the embroidered  _jutti_  off Tanvir's foot. "The hills call for you to visit, so that you might favor them with your handsome grace."

Priti bared Tanvir's other foot and set the footwear aside. "And the wind chases away the clouds, so that the sun might look upon you.

"The valleys morn when you ride away." He got to his knees and unfastened the top button of Tanvir's  _achkan_.

Tanvir's took in a shaky breath. He shouldn't allow Priti to undress him. Tanvir would certainly take advantage of the situation, which he couldn't afford to do until he knew Joban's wishes. But he didn't trust himself to stop Priti either.

"And the birds sing of you loveliness."

Tanvir yanked his eyes away from Priti's slender fingers against his chest. "Do they, my love?"

"They do." Priti spread the  _ackhan_  wide. "I hear them all the time. They sing of your deeds and valor and beauty and keep me company while you are gone. The clouds write your beauty against the sky."

How much poetry had Priti been exposed to? How much would his pretty words mature once Tanvir read to him from the greats? Or once Tanvir had touched him for the first time?

Tanvir growled low in his throat. He wouldn't survive the night.

Priti's nimble fingers loosened the laces at the neck of Tanvir's  _kurti_. "The mountains cry out in anguish that you do not visit them."

"I have not visited the mountains?"

"I listen to all the stories." Priti tugged Tanvir to his feet. "And they say you seek out injustice from the sea to the river, through the desert to the mountains. I haven't heard of you ever going into the mountains."

"Would you like to see the world from on high?" Tanvir had been dressed by Zemar since they were both fifteen, but never during any of those years had he felt so helpless or aroused.

"I don't know." Priti pushed the  _achkan_  off Tanvir's shoulders and down his arms. "Your chest is as wide as the great river and your shoulders could be a mountain's foundation."

Priti must not have had much practice undressing anyone for the end of Tanvir's  _achkan_  sleeves caught on his hands, but Tanvir decided not to help. Priti tugged on Tanvir's left sleeve and loosened it. "In fact, city walls cry out that their foundations aren't as sturdy as your handsome shoulders."

Priti laid the  _ackhan_  across the stool. "Stones wish they could be as strong as the muscles on your chest. Oases appear in the desert to tempt to you to unclothe, so they might behold your beauty."

Priti slid his hands up the inside of Tanvir's  _kurti_ , his tongue between his lips. Tanvir wished to taste that tongue and to feel those hands against his body. "They aren't the only ones who wish to see me bare?"

"Of course not." Priti tugged the  _kurti_  over Tanvir's head. "The stars curse the roof that keeps you from their view."

Tanvir pointed to the thin, unembroidered  _kurti_  Zemar had laid out. "I sleep in a nightshirt."

"For shame." Priti lifted the nightshirt and added it to Tanvir's growing pile of discarded clothes. "The blankets want you against them with nothing between you."

"Do they?"

Priti spread his hands across Tanvir's chest. "They do and who could blame them?"

"Do you?"

Priti grinned and breathed against the base of Tanvir's neck. "I understand them exactly."

Without breaking their gaze, Priti slid his hands down to Tanvir's waist. "The hills cry with joy that a boy born among them is the one to touch the fallen star. They will boast my praises although I really don't deserve them."

Priti reached his fingers under Tanvir's waistline and pulled out the ends of the drawstring holding Tanvir's  _shalwar_  up. Tanvir grabbed his hand. He wanted Priti's fingers against ever inch of his skin, but his  _shalwar_  was the only thing keeping his straining rod from brushing his gentle lover. Once he had nothing holding him back, nothing would.

Zemar cleared his throat outside the gher. "Tanvir Sahib, I have spoken to Joban Sahib. If the young master is in his bed come morning, Joban Sahib says that he never left."

"Thank you, Zemar." Tanvir lifted Priti's hand to his lips and kissed Priti's palm. "You will be the death of me."

Priti laughed. "A good death, I hope. With many more to come."

Tanvir took possession of Priti's mouth, which Priti gave with a willingness that shouldn't have surprised Tanvir. He leaned back to get a good look at his lover.

Priti licked his lips and slid his hand down to Tanvir's waist. "May I continue?"

"At your pleasure."

Priti laughed again, a golden, magical sound. "The rains come, because the water longs to be near you."

He unknotted the drawstring. "Each drop's dearest wish is to be the water you wash in, to be rubbed against your skin."

The cool night air against Tanvir's heated flesh was not enough to soften him. Walking as far as the bedroll was painful, but if that was where Priti wanted him, that was where Tanvir wanted to be. Priti arranged the pillows around them; every brush of the gauze against Tanvir was fire as was every sizzling gaze of Priti's eyes.

When Priti straddled Tanvir's hips, the soft fabric between them was pure torture.

"How come all these hills and drops and clouds wish to touch me? Wouldn't they also want to be touched?" He ran his finger along on edge of the gauze.

Priti leaned down. "The hills wish you to sleep upon them, the rivers wish you to wade through them, the desert sand cannot get enough of the firmness of your skin."

Tanvir smiled. "I could do without the sand."

"But the sand cannot do without you." Priti rubbed a finger against Tanvir's nipple.

"But it has to. There is only one person I want within my private spaces."

Priti grinned and licked his lips. "Caves cry out for you to spend your nights within them."

Tanvir tugged Priti down and turned, so they lay side by side. "And do you? Want me to spend my nights within you?"

"Yes." Priti pressed against Tanvir. "Yes."

"But before I can, my love. I will need your help to get you out of this." Tanvir tugged on the gauze.

Priti laughed. Tanvir lost what little control he still had. He would spend the evening seeing what other magical sounds Priti could make. Zemar would be back before dawn to make sure Priti was safely tucked into his own bed come morning.

—

Warm, laughter-filled nights helped the days pass more quickly. Priti's mother insisted he have numerous  _kurti_ , each more heavily embroidered than the last, silk  _churidar_ , which both covered and showed off his fine legs,and decorated  _ackhan_ to keep him warm on chilly days, plus  _jutti_ to match each outfit. And she had five people doing nothing but embroidering coordinating saddle blankets. Priti would be dressed like a prince.

He deserved the finery, but why couldn't Tanvir's men have done it on Tanvir's time? He forced down his impatience. Over these weeks, Joban had grown friendly and Priti's father might no longer hate him. An alliance with this powerful family in the north was good for his holdings and his future and a totally unexpected boon, for he would have made Priti his own even if the boy's family were beggars.

Joban's people had hung streamers everywhere and the small city that was Joban's home had more than doubled in size with guests here for the celebration. By this time tomorrow, Priti would be his.

—

Tanvir woke late in the morning, head still groggy from the wine, with his beautiful bride tuck against his side. No more sneaking Priti back into his father's  _gher_  at dawn. Priti would never again sleep anywhere but at Tanvir's side. Tanvir's hand slid down Priti's soft skin. Priti smiled. "Husband mine."

Tanvir moaned his pleasure at that statement. "Yes, my love."

"I am the luckiest of all the creatures of earth, luckier than the birds of the air and the fish of the sea."

"Are you?" Tanvir rubbed his face against Priti's neck, breathing in his delicious scent.

"Yes, because I am the one you woke beside."

"I am lucky as well."

"Are you?"

"For the missing child that heaven morns is none other than my sweet husband."

Priti laughed, which was a wonderful way to start any day.

—

Three months after his first visit, Tanvir and his men returned to the town Priti had lived near. Priti visited his sisters while Tanvir's men gathered information. Manraj, the man who had dared accost Priti so many months before, was not far out of town drinking up another man's hard earned living.

Just because a man had the power to take what didn't belong to him, didn't mean he should.

Tanvir and his men rode out with a few townsfolk to identify the innocent. He rode back at dusk. He had a bit of blood on his hair and on his clothes, but none of it was his. A few families invited him in for the night, but he had other plans. He pulled Priti up behind him on his horse and they rode out to the valley where they'd first met. Zemar had set up a perfect camp and the scent of food filled the air.

Tanvir discarded his clothes at the stream's edge and stepped into the water. He turned back to the bank. "My love, what would you have done that first day, had I given you leave?"

Priti grinned. "Husband mine, do you really wish to know?"

Tanvir lifted his arms. Priti tossed his clothes aside and waded in.

—

Hours later, after Tanvir and Priti were warm and dry and well fed, Tanvir's men returned with the late Manraj's herds. Tomorrow Tanvir would go back to town and see who laid claim to Manraj's wealth. He wouldn't be surprised to learn of widows and orphans and probably a good many young women needing a large dowry to secure futures for themselves and their babes. Manraj was not a true man.

Priti blinked slowly in Tanvir's arms as they sat near the fire. "The night winds call your name."

"Is that what they're doing?" Arjan laughed. "Maybe we follow the wrong man."

Dilraj slapped his shoulder. "I'd rather follow a man the stars loved then one they hated."

"The stars worship you."

"They aren't the only ones, are they, Nayanprit?" Dilraj tousled Priti's hair.

Tanvir let him get away with it because Dilraj was his oldest friend and also because Priti had said he didn't mind. The teasing made him feel more like part of the group. Tanvir wanted Priti to feel at home among the men that he'd be spending his life with.

"I can't help my feelings for Tanvir. I think I've always known he existed. But I had to wait to meet him."

"You met him too soon." Arjan shaved a sliver of wood off what might become a tiger or elephant or lamb in his hands.

"I met him at the perfect time. That way I had something to long for."

"As did I, my love." Tanvir closed his eyes. As hard as the years waiting for Priti had been, seeing his goal and knowing the end was in sight was vastly superior to wandering in darkness. "With you as my prize, I could not be lead astray."

"Did someone tempt you, husband mine?"

Arjan laughed. "Both men and women tried their hardest, but no one could compete with 'you will still be handsome with your clothes on.'"

"And don't forget," Dilraj put his hand over his heart. "'Many people must have been born ugly to make up for your beauty.'"

Priti tucked his face against Tanvir's chest. "You were there."

"All of us where."

"Really? I only remember Zemar."

Zemar brought Priti another blanket. "And that is only because I was covering up Tanvir Sahib's handsome flesh."

Priti nodded against Tanvir. Tanvir's heart was warm and happy. As much as he loved Priti, he never expected him to fit in so well.

"My favorite part," Zemar moved the empty dishes away from the group, "was his honesty."

"I only tell the truth."

"Of course, Priti Sahib. You see what we see, the Tanvir Sahib we love and follow, but you speak with the words of a poet. You are an asset to us and to Tanvir Sahib. We are glad you are with us."

Priti looked up at the night sky and spoke of love and justice and strength and truth as they pertained to Tanvir and his men.

Tanvir held Priti close. He really was the luckiest man alive.


End file.
